On Saturday 23 July, the preparation of the last area of the inside frames to be repainted was put into work. Completion of which will achieve an important milestone in the restoration of D9518.

Debris including bits of a glass bottle, nuts and bits of broken cable to a depth of up to 3 inches (75mm) were levered out of the tray shaped frame stretcher, A end, near the Buffer beam. The original Indian red paint that then came to light, for the first time since the Loco was built by BR Swindon in 1964, was seen to be largely intact. Clearly, provided excellent protection to the underlying steel structure over the years of BR (W) and later NCB service. With no rust seen, the item will be prepared and repainted easily.

This last area completes the full repaint of each end, the frame tops, Hunslett gearbox, and inside frames of the rolling chassis which D9518 now is. When lifted, an inspection can be made and any small in-accessable areas we may find that are not up to our required high standard of restoration will be finished off.

That lift now being planned, will see the release of the frames from the wheel sets and enable some worn rivets in the frames to be replaced and then we can set to on the outside of the frames and prepare and repaint them also. At that point we shall need the wheel sets back in ready to start the rebuild in earnest.

The tyres on the wheels, when out of frames, will be machined to correct their profile. Those six work worn tyres do have enough thickness to allow them to be reprofiled. And will be sent away to do that.

In the meantime, other work continues to plan. Foe example restoration and refitting of the Air brake cylinders and brake valves and pipework, now well underway, is almost done. The cab, already painted, needs a new floor made and fitted and is this planned to restart soon as volunteer labour is freed up from the frame restoration work as we now report above.

D6575 is off to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire gala this weekend. Ian reports on the prep for this last weekend as well as an update on D6566.

D6575 – Was prepared for it’s visit to the GlosWarks Railway including Fitness to Run checks and removal of the four life guards to prevent them being damaged during winching onto the low loader.The loco was moved to BL on Sunday morning and movement to Toddington by Alleys Transport was planned for Monday.

D6566 - Once D6575 had been readied during the morning, Will and me fitted the exhaust stack to the turbo and then with further team assistance the main roof section was moved back into position and loosely clamped down.The exhaust cowl and grille were then fitted.In the nick of time as well because the loco has been shunted outside for a while so D7017 can go into the shed for UAT prepping. It is also planned to do a UAT on D6566 at the same time since the operator is able to do two locos in one day.On Sunday the pipe from the turbo oil separator to the exhaust stack was fitted.

Nathan Vines has sent some nice pictures of D7017 out and about last weekend. These are below, with Ian's photos of the Class 33's activities below that.